Blog #9

Blog 9:  Interview protocol for your project


Person being interviewed: Dr. Zamora 
Explaining the purpose- what I hope to find/ study 
Describing the study- what I will do/ be doing
Why am I asking this person?
She is an English professor that has knowledge on my topic. When I asked she was referred to me and I thought I should just go with it. 
How Long will the interview be?
It will be approximately 15/20 minutes. After finalizing all of the questions for my interviewee I will determine that it will not be an interview lasting an hour but it will certainly not be 5 minutes long either. 

Sample Research questions that will help me come up with my interview questions: 
What is the use of cellphones in classroom/ out of the classroom?
What are the effects of texting in a classroom?
Does texting lingo wind up in papers for professors?
How do students see texting as changing their writing behaviors?
What is texting most used for?

Blog #8

Blog 8: 

 Topic: Effects of Texting... Is texting as negative as the society sees it?
Criteria Content

1. Paper will include: History of texting; why was it created; how is it used today; how do teachers and parents feel about texting; articles and data about texting in a workplace, school, etc..
2. Problem: is texting really as bad as people make it seem?
3. The analysis will show both sides of the arguement with a conclusion if texting is "bad" or not. 
4. Interview for teachers, parents, and survey for what people use texting for the most today.
5. Collecting data and recording the interview(s). 
6.  Discuss the findings, whether texting is having a positive or negative impact in our daily lives.
7. Stating the effects of texting and the found conclusions.

 After working through the steps on the worksheet for the research plan, write up your research plan in terms of the following points.

Statement of purpose (what you hope to show/discover)

I hope to show that texting is actually a good thing and can be seen in a positive mind rather than negatively. 

Detailed statement of your research question

Is texting as negative as the society sees it?

Is texting a main thing that future educators are going to have to be concerned with?

List of the information you need to gather

 History of texting, data on how people use texting today, interview of parent/ highschool/ professor English teacher

A preliminary list of sources

High school English professor/ teacher, Parent who has a teen that texts

Plan for gathering your information that includes:

·         who/what you will be studying (for example:. students in a College Composition class, how they think about the comments teachers write on their papers)

How do students think texting either negative or positively effects them with school and writing paper for classes, as well as communication by talking. 

·         where you will collect your information (for example:. in interviews at Kean University)

Students Kean University and Teacher from  Kean or DBHS(highschool in Kenilworth)

·         how many subjects you will study (for example:. 3) 

Most likely around 10. 

Blog #7

Blog 7:  Listen to the recording of your oral history.  Write up some observations about what you have learned about interviewing.

Starting off the observation I thought it was going to be quite awkward but about 30 seconds into it I realized it was not really that awkward at all. Being prepared with some questions and making the observation into more of a conversation definitely made it less challenging. I would have to say for next time I would definitely do at least 3 things differently. One thing I would do different is be a lot more prepared. Because this was an impromptu assignment it was hard to prepare but being prepared will be key next time. Another thing I would do different is have more questions to interview. This goes along with being prepared but I would definitely need a lot of questions to have my interviewee answer and take up more time. The last thing I would change is finding out prior knowledge about the subject before the interview is held. I think this all goes along with preparation and being organized. Therefore I learned from the observations that organization and preparation is key! 

Blog #6

Topic: How is text messaging affecting teen literacy?


Specific Focus: Finding the technology foundation and the history of text messaging, why it was initially created, how many teens use it today, average number of texts sent per month, what age texting is start/ most occurring. 



What I want to find out within the focus: The statistics mentioned above and how it is negatively or positively affecting teens.



What I want to do with my study: Survey and interview teens and find out how text messaging effects them. 



****I am not too sure which direction I am going to be leading into with this topic because I just decided on it. However, I am hoping with the conference that I can have a clearer understanding of how to approach this topic. 

Blog #5

Jottings

•            Attracted to the people I already knew from other classes
• ·         A bit awkward at first
• ·         Once engaged in conversation it was sort of better to keep conversation
• ·         People walked around hesitantly
• ·         There were awkward silences amongst the conversations
• ·         Didn’t really know how to start conversations
• ·         Had a hard time initiating people to talk to
• ·         Laughing because everyone felt sort of awkward
• ·         Noticing similarities amongst each other
• ·         Noticing differences among each other

Headnotes

• ·         Everyone was friendly and talkative about as much as they could be
• ·         Trying to think of something to talk about was a challenge among most groups
• ·         Nobody distanced away, we all stayed in one big cluster
• ·         Professor tried to help engage students together
• ·         Felt like a mixer, meeting people for the first time
• ·         Small groups being formed
• ·         Arms close to body
• ·         Teacher role in the room
• ·         Lack of eye contact
• ·         Talked to new people
• ·         Very short, although it seemed long about 6 minutes 

Things I Remembered Later

• ·         It felt like we were a rat or spying on each other
• ·         Hard to focus on group as a whole while trying to focus on yourself and your thoughts and interactions                    with others.
• ·         It was challenging and interesting experience that we need to practice and incorporate to make it fun.

Field Notes

• Overall it was a pretty decent experience. It was a tad awkward at first and their was a sort of tension in the room. It was obvious that we were not all too comfortable with each other but I do believe in time that exercises like these will become like second nature. Like anything that requires practice, after a couple times, I do not think that it would be as weird as it was on Thursday. 

Blog #4

Blog #3

There are many new terms that I have learned over the past two weeks in class. Although we have only had three classes did learn a lot in just a short amount of time. Although I have heard of some of the terms, I now have a much deeper understanding of them. The new terms I have learned are:

Analysis: When first thinking of analysis in the past I would just think of something as a summary; however, now I know that an analysis is a review/breakdown, it is picking apart into pieces to make meaning of something, it is also known for a detailed summary.

Discourse: Although I am not 100% certain what discourse means yet, each class I get a better understanding of the term. So far I know that it is language in use, the way we use meanings, language use--> behavior--> values. It can also  have to do with cultural connections.

Lexis: I learned that lexis is not just one of my best friends names and it has a meaning in the english world of "language within discourse".

Shaggy Dog Stories: Prior to taking this class I had absolutely no idea what a shaggy dog story was. However, I now know that it is a folktale/trope that is not serious. It is a story that you will most likely need prior knowledge to understand, they all end in a pun and knowing the punch line in each will definitely help the audience in finding the humor.

** These are just a couple of the terms I have learned over the past three classes and I look forward to learning more.